


No Surprise

by buzzbuzz34



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Emotional Infidelity, Grief/Mourning, Jealousy, M/M, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:54:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22552093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buzzbuzz34/pseuds/buzzbuzz34
Summary: Danny is found alive in the aftermath of the Unknowing, and he and Martin bond over all of the horrors they'd seen and the loss of Tim.  But as their relationship progresses, Martin finds himself longing for the other Stoker brother.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Danny Stoker
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5
Collections: The Magnus Archives Rare Pairs 2020





	No Surprise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Arazsya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arazsya/gifts).



Nobody was really sure how Danny had made it out, but in the chaos of the Unknowing’s aftermath, he was found, barely alive, his skin streaked with the runny remains of a clown’s face paint.

However, they were all sure that Tim was dead. And it fell to Martin, the only one of the Archives staff left that had really known Tim, to tell his brother of his fate.

They cried together for a while. Quite a while. As the initial pain began to fade, they started to tell stories about Tim, about the time he reorganized every book in a nearby bookshop based on color when they didn’t have the tome he’d requested, or the time that he died his hair neon pink out of spite, or the time he cried while watching Bambi as an adult. 

Martin found himself going to visit Danny every day after work. The hospital was stuffy, Danny’s recovery was a slow process, and they were both grateful for the company. To be alone with the guilt and the despair was an unthinkable fate. 

Eventually, they started to talk about things other than Tim, and instead about themselves. Danny still had a spark in his eye when he talked about urban exploration, but he’d never set foot in an abandoned, sealed off building again. Some things were better left undiscovered. After having been a victim of the Stranger for so long, part of the uncanny amalgamation of fear, it wasn’t as if Martin had to hide the truth about his work at the Archives. It felt good to tell someone about it all, to have someone believe him, to have someone he could trust. Few others would believe the horrors both of them had seen and experienced, but they could confide in each other. 

It came as no surprise, then, that when Danny got out of the hospital, Martin continued to visit him. Martin never wanted to smother him, so he tried not to stop by every day, but he found himself drawn to Danny’s doorstep regardless. And the way that Danny smiled whenever he saw Martin did nothing to dissuade these visits. 

Each of their worlds were in upheaval, but they clung to each other like an anchor in the storm. And when one evening came, and Danny kissed Martin for the first time while they sat in the former’s flat, that was no surprise either. 

Martin liked Danny, really, _really_ liked him. There was an undeniable charm about him, a charisma that would draw in anyone who spoke to him, but the bond with Martin was deeper than that. Danny didn’t have to pretend; it wasn’t about being suave and dashing and adventurous, it was about being _real_. After years of serving in a façade of the manifestation of all the off-putting strangeness in the world, it was a realness that Danny needed. And for the first time in a long time, Martin felt wanted. 

Which made it all the more painful for Martin when he saw Tim’s face where Danny’s was. 

No matter how hard Martin tried, it was impossible to not see Tim in Danny’s features. Danny didn’t have as many scars, of course, and the way he stared at Martin, the way he gazed deep into his soul, that was his alone. But the way he smiled when he told a bad joke, the way he laughed… they were a pale echo of his older brother. 

And when Martin and Danny kissed, occasionally Martin couldn’t help but wonder if that was what it would’ve felt like to kiss Tim. He’d never had feelings for Tim like that when he was alive, at least not that he’d recognized, but now he couldn’t help but wonder if there’d been something there after all. Something he’d ignored or refused to acknowledge, something he’d never get to explore now that Tim was gone. 

He tried to remind himself that it didn’t matter. It was about _Danny_ , not the brother that was dead, the friend he’d once had. Martin was falling hard for Danny, but he couldn’t determine how much of what he loved were memories and fantasies about Tim, and not about the man he currently held in his arms and his heart.

Martin tried to ignore it. He was grieving, he convinced himself, and it was all some trick of his mind that threatened to make the loss more agonizing and to drive away the one person he had left. He didn’t care about the memories of Tim, and soon enough his face would begin to fade. 

No matter how many times he told himself this, Tim’s visage continued to stare back at him through Danny’s eyes. Part of Martin wanted to admit this to Danny, to see if they could come up with some solution together – surely it was better to be honest about it? But Martin knew how much that would stab at Danny’s already broken heart, and he couldn’t bear to see him hurt any more. So he kept quiet, and hoped that the ghost haunting him would eventually disappear.

*

Despite this denial, it came as no surprise that these hidden thoughts couldn’t stay hidden forever. They revealed themselves as Danny’s lips began to trace their way down Martin’s neck, etching wondrous patterns in his skin, and eliciting a quiet moan from Martin. 

But the name on his tongue wasn’t Danny’s.

“Tim…” he gasped while lost in ecstasy, but he immediately knew what he had done. 

Danny drew back, his brow creased with fury. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“I… I don’t know where that came from,” Martin lied. “I’m sorry. It’s all about you, really, I…”

“Bullshit.”

Danny launched himself off the couch and marched toward the door to hold it open, gesturing for Martin to see himself out. 

“Danny, I…”

“I don’t care. Get out,” he demanded, and Martin slowly made his way to the door. “I never thought you’d use me like that.”

“I didn’t, I swear.”

But it was too late. The door was slammed in his face, and Martin could easily hear the sound of multiple locks turning in place, followed by a heavy sob. All he wanted to do was throw himself at the door, break it down so that he could truly apologize for what he’d done, for all of the hurt he’d caused Danny, and insist that he loved _him_ , not the other brother, but it would be a lie. 

As Martin headed home to his own flat, trying to swallow down the tears that threatened to spill forth, he didn’t know if he had used Danny or not. He’d sought to convince himself that he cared for Danny and Danny alone, but his heart held him back. 

He wanted to love Danny. And he hated himself for these feelings about Tim that he’d never realized and that would never truly resolve now that Tim was dead. Instead, he’d only hurt himself and one of the few people he could trust. 

Turned out, he couldn’t even trust himself.

The next day, Martin found himself trudging a familiar path to Danny’s apartment and hesitantly knocking on the door.

“Go away.”

“Danny, please. Can we talk?”

“No.”

Part of Martin appreciated the stubbornness and spite that the Stoker brothers obviously shared, and another part of him detested himself for thinking of that. 

“Alright, well, I’m going to stand here and talk at the door then. You can listen, or not, but…”

Martin took a deep breath and was ready to say his piece when the door opened. Danny didn’t look good. His eyes were bloodshot, and he still wore the previous day’s clothes. 

“Fine. What do you want?”

“I want to apologize.”

“Great, done. Now go away.” Danny started to shut the door, but Martin held out his hand to stop it. While Danny’s words were forceful, it took barely any effort for Martin to keep the threshold clear. 

“Listen: I messed up. Let me talk, please,” he insisted when he saw Danny open his mouth to interrupt with another deservedly snarky remark. 

“I never meant to hurt you. Really, please believe that. It’s not like I got involved with you because Tim was gone and you were the next best thing, or whatever you might believe.” 

True to Martin’s request, Danny allowed him to continue, but way he sighed made it clear that was exactly what he’d been thinking. 

“But I also can’t deny that… I haven’t seen Tim where you are sometimes. When you laugh, you… you look so much like him. I thought it was grief or some lingering effect of the Stranger or _something_ , so I tried to ignore it and focus on you because I really do like you, Danny, I do… But sometimes I can’t help wondering how much is you and how much is my mind imagining Tim in your place.”

After a long moment, Danny flatly asked, “Are you done?”

“What I did was wrong. All of it. And I’m sorry. I think that’s the sum of it, since you probably don’t want to hear me yammer on right now.”

Instead of slamming the door in his face, as Martin expected, Danny let out a heavy breath and leaned against the doorframe. 

“We probably didn’t think this through terribly well,” Danny admitted quietly. “Doesn’t forgive what you did or how you used me-”

“-I never-”

“You did. Whether you meant to or not, you did. You could’ve said something when you realized that it wasn’t just about me, about _us_ , you could’ve said that you needed more time, you could’ve done _anything else_ , but you didn’t,” he snapped, then sighed. “Listen, like I said, we probably didn’t go about this well. We were both grieving, _are_ grieving, and we kind of stumbled headfirst into a relationship when neither of us is in a place for it, regardless of Tim’s involvement, you know?

“It just… it just sucks, alright? I really like you. Like, a lot. But how much of what you like about me is just what you liked about Tim? Or what you _wanted_ to like about Tim?”

“The truth is, I don’t know,” Martin replied, blinking away tears. “I don’t know what’s going on in my head or in my heart. I mean it when I say I never meant to hurt you, and I mean it when I say that I’m sorry. And I want to mean it when I say that I fell for you, but… we both know that’s not entirely true.”

“We need to… _not_ right now.” Danny weakly gestured between the two of them. “They say time heals all wounds, and I think that’s bullshit, but maybe in a while we can look at each other and see _only_ each other when we do. I want to stay in touch, despite everything,” he said, refusing to look Martin in the eye. “You’re really the only person I know that has any connection to all this fear magic stuff and I don’t know how well I’ll handle it alone. But romantically? We’re not… no.”

With a nod, Martin said, “I agree. Neither of us is in the right headspace for that, especially me, apparently. But please reach out if you need me. I know this stuff is weird and terrifying and… well, you know probably better than me. Um… yeah. I’ll… see you around?”

Danny nodded and offered a smile, tears trickling down his cheeks. All Martin wanted to do was hold him while they cried, beg his forgiveness and swear that he’d never let his mind stray again. Instead, he knew that was foolish, and so he walked away, down the hall, and out of Danny’s life.

*

Martin meant to keep in touch, he really did. At the same time, he didn’t want to pressure Danny or put any undue stress on him, so waited for him to make the first move, the first contact. 

He never did, though. 

After a couple months, Martin wanted to text him, just to make sure he was still doing okay, but he deleted that message a dozen times over, and instead said nothing. After a while, Martin stopped glancing anxiously at his phone every time it beeped or buzzed, and finally stopped checking his notifications entirely. It was easier to succumb to static.

The Lonely was safer, somehow. Not just for himself, but for everyone else around him. This way, he couldn’t hurt them, but maybe he could still make a difference, maybe he could put something good into the world instead of just hurting the people he cared about. 

When the Peter Lukas pulled him into the fog, it didn’t come as a surprise. It felt like home, in its own way. Even as the waves beat against the translucent beach and whispered out his name in Danny’s voice, it didn’t hurt. He didn’t feel anything.

At least, not until Jon pulled him free. Learning to feel again felt like drowning and gasping for breath in an unrelenting storm, but the quiet of the Scottish Highlands and a friend beside him served as shelter he so desperately needed.

When the pair of them fled the Archives, Martin left his phone behind. He hadn’t even looked at it in ages, not caring about his connections with the world. So, when the Apocalypse came, Martin had no idea that the first messages and calls that came in were from Danny, hoping against hope that Martin was okay.

Martin worried about him, of course he did, but there was little way to track him down or check in on him when the world was in upheaval. Finding a way to fix what had been done, that had to come first. 

And when it was over, the sky clear of the eyes that watched and drank in the suffering, Martin did his best to help the lingering remnants of humanity. Their cities were destroyed and ravaged, and no individual had escaped the horrors unscathed. Nothing would ever be the same.

But, as Martin worked his way through the ruined streets of London, searching for survivors or supplies, eager to lend a hand to whomever might need it, he realized that not all change was bad – that there was still hope in the world.

“Danny?”

“Martin?”

They stared at each other for what felt like ages, before they raced to meet in the middle and swallow each other in an embrace. 

It should have been a surprise. There were no guarantees, and yet, seeing Danny there, smiling at Martin, gripping his hands as if he never wanted to let go, it was no surprise at all. 

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Martin said, breathing heavily as a torrent of emotions flowed through him. 

“Yeah, you too, I…”

“I was so afraid that I’d never see you again. In all this… that something would happen, and you… I…”

When words failed them, they fell back into another embrace, holding each other tight and just breathing in the scent of them, savoring the fact that it was _real_. In all the chaos, they’d found each other, they were safe, he was safe…

“I tried to call,” Danny said with an awkward smile. “But signal has been pretty spotty.” He gestured to the rubble around them, and they both laughed. 

“I lost my phone a while ago,” Martin admitted. “I meant to keep in touch even before then, but I didn’t want to pressure you or make it even weirder than it already was between us… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You’re here. You’re alright.”

Martin became acutely aware of how Danny still held onto his hands, how his thumb rubbed gently along his skin, and how Martin could’ve stayed in that moment forever.

With a deep breath, Martin continued, “Listen, I know everything is _really_ messed up right now and this probably isn’t the time for this, but… everything needs to be rebuilt now. All our cities, our homes, our lives. And if all that is going to be rebuilt, maybe we can try and rebuild what we had too? On, like, new foundations, with sturdier supports, and… okay, that’s about the end of my construction knowledge for the sake of metaphors, but…”

Both he and Danny laughed, before the latter nodded. “Yeah. I really want that. I want to see if we can… try again, or… One way or another, you know?" He paused and smiled. "I’m just really glad you’re alright. That you’re safe. Even with everything that happened, you’re still here, so maybe everything’ll be okay after all? It couldn’t take all the light in the world.”

They grinned at each other, beaming through the dirt and despair around them, and hugged again, treasuring the safety that came when they were together. 

“I need to get back to my friends,” Martin said after a long while. “I need to check in with them. You’re welcome to come along, of course, or if you-”

“Yeah, I’ll come with you.”

Their hands found each other easily as they made their way down what was once a street, and the ruin didn’t seem so complete as they did so. 

“So…” Danny said, an awkward smile on his lips. “What have you been up to?”

They both laughed again, a melodious sound after so much fear. How did Martin begin to sum up what he’d been through?

“Well, at one point I almost entirely dedicated myself to a fear god.”

“Didn’t you already do that? With all the Magnus Institute’s weird stalker vibes?”

Martin chuckled. “I mean, yes. That was an accident though, I didn’t know what I was getting into when I did that. This time was more intentional. Things were… rough. Obviously, it didn’t stick, but I _can_ still disappear into static if I focus hard enough, which is kind of a nice perk.”

Danny’s grip on Martin’s hand tightened. “Don’t you dare disappear on me now.”

“Not a chance.”

As they walked toward the sunset, it came as no surprise that they found each other again and that, this time, as new people, as _survivors_ , they would look to the future. Together.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed!! I've never written anything with Danny in it before, so I hope it came across alright! 
> 
> I'm a sucker for a (mostly) happy ending so I couldn't just leave it with angst and had to make them meet up again after the apocalypse lmao
> 
> Anyway, I hope you liked it, and thank you for providing me with so many incredible prompts for this exchange!!! <3


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